Irish move four-ward

Momentum swings a result of fourth-down conversions.

Momentum swings a result of fourth-down conversions.

October 22, 2006|ERIC HANSEN Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn loved the message Irish coach Charlie Weis was sending -- or at least the one he thought Weis was sending. Weis elected to go for the first down on fourth down five times Saturday in a 20-17 comeback victory over UCLA at Notre Dame Stadium. The 10th-ranked Irish converted four of them. That's as many as 64 of the 119 Div. I-A teams had converted in their entire seasons heading into Saturday's action. "You've got to make plays," Quinn said. "You've got to make things happen sometimes. A lot of times those fourth-down conversions can be big momentum swings." And sometimes they aren't. UCLA stuffed Quinn at the Bruin 35-yard line on a quarterback sneak with 2:26 left in the game, but the UCLA offense couldn't play keepaway for the rest of the game and had to punt the ball back to the Irish with just over a minute left. Quinn then led ND 80 yards in three plays and 35 seconds for the winning score. "Sometimes you get right on the fringe where you sit and tell your team, 'Hey fellas, we can go ahead and make this play,' " Weis said. "But once in a while, you do it once too often there and you almost end up losing the game. "I'm trying to tell both our offense and defense that when I call that, you cover up for my mistakes. But more often that not, we've done a good job of converting." The Irish are 14-of-18 on the year after going 8-of-16 on fourth down all of last season. Personnel matters

Senior safety Tom Zbikowski was replaced on punt returns Saturday by wide receivers Jeff Samardzija and George West, but Weis said the move is not meant to be permanent.

"I wasn't going to risk him," Weis said of Zbikowski, who missed the Oct. 7 game against Stanford with a shoulder injury. "I needed him on defense."

Joe Brockington did such an admirable job in starting weakside linebacker Travis Thomas' absence that Weis kept Brockington at that position Saturday and moved Thomas to strongside linebacker, displacing Mitchell Thomas. Travis Thomas had missed the past two Irish games with a rib injury.

"We didn't feel that taking Joe out of the lineup was the right thing to do," Weis said. "And we also didn't feel that keeping Travis out of the lineup for injury was the right thing to do, so we played both of them." Travis Thomas and Brockington each finished with seven tackles Saturday.

Defensive tackle Trevor Laws recorded his first fumble recovery of the season Saturday, but he felt his most significant contribution was providing Samardzija with a calf massage just prior to the game-winning scoring drive.

"He owes me something for that," Laws said. I rubbed his calves out, told him, 'Let's do this baby', and he did it." Notable numbers

Quinn surpassed the 10,000-yard career passing mark Saturday, becoming the 32nd player in NCAA Div. I-A history to do so.

Notre Dame is now 16-0 when running back Darius Walker has 20 or more carries in a game. Walker had 21 carries Saturday.

Walker moved past Phil Carter and Ryan Grant into sixth place on ND's career rushing list.

Junior cornerback Terrail Lambert recorded his third career interception Saturday, all of which have come in ND's past four games.

UCLA kicker Justin Medlock's string of 14 straight made field goals ended Saturday when he missed a 47-yarder. Medlock later connected on a 29-yard field goal that gave the Bruins a 17-13 fourth-quarter lead.